Doping in Football

Magic Man

Magic Man

Well-known member
Brought up yesterday on the 'Stick to Football' podcast by Neville et al... I think their focus was on the Italian teams of the 90's / early 00's, however the Pep Barca team between 2008 - 2012 (which was lightyears ahead of any other team) is coming under some scrutiny online, specifically a Dr Ramon Segura of which Pep is seemingly very close to - Pep himself as a player failed two doping tests under the care of this nutritionist whilst playing in Italy.

Also, another interesting fact, the Spanish FA did not carry out blood tests for anti-doping until 2013, only urine tests. It is impossible to detect growth hormone or other EPO's by conducting a urine test (apparently). It's widely acknowledged that at some stage in his development Messi was regularly taking Growth Hormone - some suggest he has never stopped.

I can still vividly remember the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley, watching and thinking to myself that it looks like boys against men here, United could not lay a glove on Barca.

That Barca team was outrageous, and none of the players ever seemed to be injured.

Should I take this tin foil hat off or could there be something in that?
 
We always look elsewhere for doping. Neville’s memory bust be failing.
Rio Ferdinand?

Footballers can get as little as 1 annual test a year - that demonstrates its isn’t taken seriously.
File under tennis
 
The difference between elite level athletes and your "normal" athlete is generally how good your "performance enhancement" is.

It's wide spread across all sports, why would football be any diffrent? It would be nieve to think otherwise.
 
That Milan side that had a back 4 of Maldini, Costacurta, Nesta, Cafu… all of them about 35 but played like they were 21
 
The sport will be riddled with PEDs. Any sport where there is an advantage to being physically stronger, quicker etc will have PED use. The fact there's astronomical money involved only increases the motivation for people to take PEDs.
There should be more stringent drug testing, particularly at the top level.
 
I've seen some brief footage of Neville and Keane talking about this and their point of view is very interesting but their is next to no substantiation.

In fact, based on the logic, man U must have been doping during the fergie era given they were so much better than most other teams in England.
 
Something I find pretty unbelievable mind is the transformation wenger had on arsenal when he first came in. I think it's always been suggested that change in lifestyle, diet etc were the reasons but I don't personally think that is 100% plausible
 
It's bound to be happening, probably in England as we speak too.

Sort of want to keep my head in the sand about it all as it would ruin a lot of football heritage if it comes out that they were cheating.

Pogba isn't going to be the only high profile player doing it right now, he's just the first to be caught.
 
Tryasize10 said:
I've seen some brief footage of Neville and Keane talking about this and their point of view is very interesting but their is next to no substantiation.

In fact, based on the logic, man U must have been doping during the fergie era given they were so much better than most other teams in England.
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In fairness, I think they were most probably referring to Riccardo Agricola, the Juve dr who was sent to prison for doping, but were anxious about any legal ramifications in naming him...
 
motownjunk said:
It pretty much accepted that whatever Ferdinand was taking it wasn't performance enhancing.
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Is it? - then why was he taking it to play football.

The bigger picture is there is little threat to a player who wants to use drugs of any kind - the football authorities can't be asred to catch them
 
Tryasize10 said:
Something I find pretty unbelievable mind is the transformation wenger had on arsenal when he first came in. I think it's always been suggested that change in lifestyle, diet etc were the reasons but I don't personally think that is 100% plausible
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It is very plausible, Arsenal's training methods and approach to diet were horrendous before Wenger came in.

Just like the majority of English teams.
 
1finny said:
We always look elsewhere for doping. Neville’s memory bust be failing.
Rio Ferdinand?

Footballers can get as little as 1 annual test a year - that demonstrates its isn’t taken seriously.
File under tennis
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Exactly this. The lack of testing in football is a joke. But the main problem is the money involved. If a top played got popped the club could bankrupt UKAD with appeals, thus making the whole thing pointless.

The signs are all there, hiding in plain sight. Magic injections, special drinks etc - Wenger has even brought this up himself.
 
hendrieswondergoal said:
This is an open secret. Real Madrid and Barcelona were no doubt involved in the doping case that brought down lots of cyclists and the doping doctor Fuentes. Some top cyclists "were removed" from the documents by Spanish courts. 100% that's exactly what they did with footballers, because, well, money.

dopes everywhere
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Doping covered up at a governmental level in Spain in that case. They wouldn't have wanted to spoil the success in tennis and football.
 
I think they're forgetting about diet, fitness and not drinking. Neville might not have been a big drinker, but I bet he would have been drinking way more than the biggest drinkers on the European sides. People like Keane were massive drinkers, nobody is going to convince me he drank less and was in better shape than his opposition?

The Europeans where about a decade ahead of English players in that respect. In a game where the skill margins became smaller and smaller, things like fitness and diet etc play a much bigger part.

That's not saying the Europeans and south Americans were not more skilful mind, as they were, but that is down to the football when they're growing up, it's a lot more technical (or it was). If you're skilful enough to retain the ball, you can pass the opposition to death, and even if they're just as fit as you, it doesn't matter, as they're not as fit as the ball. Like the old saying goes, "the ball doesn't get tired, but the people chasing it do".
 
Magic Man said:
Brought up yesterday on the 'Stick to Football' podcast by Neville et al... I think their focus was on the Italian teams of the 90's / early 00's, however the Pep Barca team between 2008 - 2012 (which was lightyears ahead of any other team) is coming under some scrutiny online, specifically a Dr Ramon Segura of which Pep is seemingly very close to - Pep himself as a player failed two doping tests under the care of this nutritionist whilst playing in Italy.

Also, another interesting fact, the Spanish FA did not carry out blood tests for anti-doping until 2013, only urine tests. It is impossible to detect growth hormone or other EPO's by conducting a urine test (apparently). It's widely acknowledged that at some stage in his development Messi was regularly taking Growth Hormone - some suggest he has never stopped.

I can still vividly remember the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley, watching and thinking to myself that it looks like boys against men here, United could not lay a glove on Barca.

That Barca team was outrageous, and none of the players ever seemed to be injured.

Should I take this tin foil hat off or could there be something in that?
Click to expand...
No you don’t need a hat, it will be rife. A blog that was doing the rounds last year from a Liverpool fan shocked that over 60% of Klopp’s Liverpool team were ”ASTHMATIC”!!
For me when they won the PL they ran everyone into the ground. Add Leicester to that theory as well.
 
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